In Boneventure Cemetery, there is but one monument that stands out among the rest. Although it is not towering high, or even massive in volume, it has drawn myself as well as hundreds of others to seek it. It’s a plain statue. A portrait of stone. To say it is simple would be unjust, but it truly is. It’s just a young girl, in the likeness of the deceased, posed ever so appropriately at the side of her own grave. She looks as if she is weeping for the loss of herself. But alas, she is not weeping. She has no eyes, no true expression, just spheres of stone. If you look close enough, you may see them. You may even believe them to move. Her mouth is posed open, in just a slight way. You cannot tell if it is meant to express surprise, loss, confusion, helplessness, hopelessness. Part of you wants to tell her that she will be okay. But then you realize, she is not real. It’s an illusion and an image which has ingrained itself into the minds and continues to haunt all of those who visit… Including myself.

Her epitaph reads, “Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.” What a beautiful sentiment. Such a nice way of indicating someone has passed. I can somehow picture the statue, coming to life, with her flowy dress and clutching her flowery wreath, running through the flowers and trees, finding a brighter world. All the while, the mortals (we) follow her lead…Not knowing what is next, but following, nevertheless…

There are many tails about Corinne Elliott Lawton, the person who came before the corpse who now lies in this plot. Stories have spun through the centuries until a tale of unattainable love and suicide is concocted, and is now fed to tour groups daily. Alas, it is but a fable.

Corinne, living in the dark times she did, was stricken by an illness. According to her mother’s diary from around that time, it appeared to be a severe respiratory infection of some sort. Or perhaps even a dreadful common cold. (Yellow Fever epidemic? Pneumonia? The Flu?) Days passed, and Corinne appeared to be doing better, however the illness reared its ugly head once more and finally took Corinne down with it. Written in her mother’s diary, Corinne drew her last breath on January 24th, 1877.

Corinne’s father was of nobility, of high rank in the confederate army, hence the elaborate statue you find in Boneventure. He commissioned a famous Italian artist to create the likeness of his beloved daughter and turn her into stone. Now she sits there eternally.

Last week was pretty exciting for me, because I broke down and bought a prime that I’ve been lusting after for quite a while. The 50mm f/1.2L finally arrived to my house after much anticipation. I’ve shot with the nifty fifty 1.8, upgraded to the 1.4, and found the focal length great, but the 1.4 wasn’t really up to snuff. So instead of buying a new copy of the 1.4, I decided to go ahead and get the 1.2. The ultimate prime lens for working in super wide aperture (1.2 to 2.8 is spectacular!) The images are beautiful, crisp, and I found that I had far less throwaways. The color is good, not perfect. It doesn’t require much adjustment in lightroom at all. The histo-curves are to die for if you have your settings right. Shooting in manual wasn’t hard with this lens. it gobbles up light and produces beautiful, creamy bokeh. 🙂

Now, to the fun part… Here are a few of my favorite HS shelter photos from last week. More can be seen on their website and Facebook Page.

One of my most recent adventures was last Sunday. Instead of church, we found peace and spirituality in another, more unusual place. We participated (somewhat) in the Rose Hill Ramble, which is held every Sunday before Halloween. It was a large group of people and one man with a megaphone wandering through Macon’s largest historic cemetery (and one of my personal favorites), Rose Hill. I’ve been known to ramble through Rose Hill in years past with my old Canon Rebel XS. The intentions were good, but it was difficult to hear, and people’s heads were interfering with my photo taking. We wound up wandering off from the large group and my creative juices started flowing. I took a few shots and threw them in Lightroom to play around with the colors/contrast. I feel like in old/abandoned/cemetery photography, there is a little more leeway for creative edits… as long as they are not overdone. I’ll go back one day when it’s not as hot… and I can drive my car. 🙂

Here’s what I came up with…

Lord knows I love a creeping vine on a tombstone.

There is something so beautiful and peaceful about the Son and the sun…

John B. Ross, another famous occupant of Rose Hill. An 8 year old little boy who aspired to be a fireman when he grew up. Read the blog post about him by Stephanie Lincecum HERE.

Ellen Gertrude headstone. 9 year old girl who died in 1859 from Scarlet Fever. Stephanie Linececum of Rose Hill blog wrote about her, READ HERE.

Dr. Robert Collins family plot statue: read about his wife and her sister HERE. (Great history lesson!)

Dr. George Pierce Gostin, M.D. headstone. Died in 1912, age 60. It reads: In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Which one do you like best? Tell me what you think…

On a side note, the 24-70mm is a beast. It’s so sharp and intuitive. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I finally took the dive and bought it.

I am going to have to start it off with my favorite kitten of the week… Meet Gizzie. What a spastic mess this thing is, but man, if I had room for 1 more cat, she’d be at my house. She is totally neurotic, looks insane, and meows constantly. I loved every ounce of her craziness…

MEOW! — Not as sharp as I’d like the image to be, but this little thing would not be still! She’s too cute not to share.

Don’t fall in love… this little one is adopted 🙂

This little girl is also adopted and is now called Bella.

Another very photogenic feline waiting for adoption.

Meet Buttercup, one of the shelter employee’s own dogs. She was being so photogenic, I couldn’t help but snap her.

I made it to the shelter earlier this week after work. It was hot and they were short handed, so I crawled in the pens and took a few photos of pups up for adoption. I won’t post them all, but I’d like to share a few of my favorite photos. You can see all the photos of available animals on the Dublin Laurens County Humane Society Facebook page.

All photos were taken with Canon 6D and 24-75mm f/2.8L II lens in shaded sunlight around 5:00PM.

Like this:

One of the most photogenic creatures on earth is a cat. Of course I don’t have much opportunity to photograph lions and tigers, but the common house cat is just as beautiful. Seriously.

I was at the Humane Society adoption event this Saturday taking the available animals photos and they had brought in a new black cat. I was completely enamoured by this cat. When you think of a “Halloween Cat” this is the cat you picture. Her eyes are fantastic. I could not leave her crate, I kept shooting until I could get the perfect shot of those EYES!

There was little to no post processing done with this photo. The 24-70 is just that sharp. Oh how I love it!

I just love those eyes.

Both photos taken with Canon 6D and 24-70 f/2.8L II lens in natural light by window